1. Field
The present invention relates to wireless communication within a peer-to-peer network and, in particular, to methods by which a mobile terminal may send small amounts of data to an intended receiver terminal.
2. Background
In a wireless network, e.g., an ad hoc network, in which a network infrastructure does not exist, a terminal has to combat certain challenges in order to set up a communication link with another peer terminal. One challenge is that when a terminal just powers up or moves into a new area, the terminal may have to first find out whether another terminal is present in the vicinity before any communication between the two terminals can start.
Due to the lack of the network infrastructure, terminals in an ad hoc wireless network may often not have a common timing reference or network controller which can assist in traffic management. So it is possible that when a first terminal is transmitting a signal and a second terminal is not in the receiving mode, therefore the transmitted signal does not help the second terminal to detect the presence of the first terminal. Power efficiency has great impact on the battery life of the terminals and is thus another important issue in the wireless system.
Additionally, a plurality of wireless terminals may operate in an environment while sharing a frequency spectrum to establish ad hoc peer-to-peer communications. Because such ad hoc peer-to-peer communications are not centrally managed by a centralized controller, interference between multiple peer-to-peer links among nearby wireless terminals is problem. That is, transmissions from a wireless terminal may cause interference with other unintended receiver wireless terminals.
Significantly, power efficiency has a great impact on the battery life of the wireless terminals and thus presents another challenge in wireless systems. Existing peer to peer systems typically employ a simple fixed power arrangement for simplicity. Under such an arrangement, a transmitter uses a fixed traffic transmission power regardless the distance of the intended receiver and the channel condition. A fixed power system, however, suffers from poor power efficiency and reduced overall throughput due to signal interference.
Additionally, a plurality of wireless terminals may operate in an environment while sharing a frequency spectrum to establish ad hoc peer-to-peer communications. Because such ad hoc peer-to-peer communications are not centrally managed by a centralized controller, interference between multiple peer-to-peer links among nearby wireless terminals is problem.
Consequently, a solution is needed to permit peer-to-peer communications a shared frequency spectrum while reducing unwanted interference to other wireless terminals.